


Why Not?

by BushRat8



Category: Elysium (2013)
Genre: Angry teenage Max, Gen, character introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-16 22:33:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11262378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BushRat8/pseuds/BushRat8
Summary: Throughout his years at the orphanage, Max has been told that Elysium is beyond his reach.  At 16, he stops taking the Sisters' word for it.





	Why Not?

**Author's Note:**

> A short bit of teenage character introspection, because I've always wanted to slap the nun for what she said.

 

 

                                                                                                   -oOo- Why Not? -oOo-  
  
  


 

"That place is not for you, or for me."  
  
Max remembers the first time Sister Rosita tells him he can't — he _shouldn't_ — go to Elysium.  She tells him how wonderfully special he is and all that other nonsense grown-ups say to children to shut them up, but when it comes right down to it, his aspirations mean nothing to her.  He might only be small, but he knows he wants out of the filthy confines of Earth, and he wants to take Frey with him, but Sister tells him,  "No."  
  
If he'd had the vocabulary back then, he'd have called her a cold-hearted bitch.  
  
It's so hard not to laugh when she tells him she can't go there either, as though that somehow makes one bit of difference.  Let her stay on Earth if she wants, but don't pile all that Catholic guilt on his head over wanting to leave.  He hasn't taken any vow to live in a dump.  
  
Though she tries, she doesn't manage to make him feel guilty enough to stop stealing.  If stealing gets him up to the torus, then that's what he'll do, and breaking her heart be damned.  He's not entirely sure there's any heart to break under all those starched blue clothes and clean blouses… and come to think of it, they're a whole lot nicer than anything he or Frey or any of the other children have to wear.  
  
When Max was little and was given the locket with the picture of Earth in it, he almost bought into the lie that Elysians look down and wish they could live in such a beautiful place, but he finally has an epiphany:  everything looks better from a distance.  The only difference is that Elysium actually _is_ better, with clear, fresh air that doesn't smell of garbage, and wide expanses of the green grass that Max has only seen in pictures.  Even if Frey takes a girly delight in the idea of robot servants, he couldn't care less about that;  not when what he really wants is something good to eat, and plenty of it.  He wants room to himself, without a whole city crushing in cheek-to-jowl with him, and real lights to brighten the night up, instead of candles that fall over, spreading flames and sending children to the hospital's burn ward at least twice a week.  If he gets sick, he wants to know that he'll get better.  
  
His dreams are really very simple, but Sister Rosita always tells him, "No.  That place is not for you, or for me."  
  
Maybe she likes keeping the burn ward in business.  
  
She's become angry of late, as though her failure to make him understand and accept her own 'truth' about Elysium is a personal reproach.  _If she can't have it_ ,  Max thinks angrily,  _then nobody should.  The day all the Sisters can go, then maybe we can, too, but that'll be never._  
  
Max continues to put his pennies and small, stolen valuables aside, year after year, saving for the day when he'll have enough for a ticket in spite of what Sister Rosita says, but they're not adding up fast enough.  It's not until he's 16 and his friend Julio — the long-haired, scrawny kid the Sisters chase away whenever they see him peeking over their wall trying to catch Max's attention — suggests that there's a faster way to save up, that the dream of Elysium starts to feel like it might really be within his reach.  "You know that guy Spider?"  says Julio, practically jumping up and down with excitement.  "He needs men, he told me.  He'll pay good money for cars, and the more we bring in, the more cash we'll make.  Come on, Max, do you want to stay down here forever?  Say you'll come with me.  You're smart;  you'll be good at this;  say you will!"  
  
Max looks back at the orphanage playground, which is nothing but drab, scrabbly pebbles and a couple of swings that are falling apart, and he looks up at the Elysian torus again, remembering Sister Rosita's voice repeating over and over and over,  "That place is not for you, or for me."  
  
"The fuck it isn't!"  he mutters to himself;  and, to Julio,  "You're on, bro.  Tell your friend Spider I'm coming, and I'll meet you here at midnight."  
  
He'll come back for Frey when he has enough for two tickets, because he made her a promise and he intends to keep it, but until then, he's excited to have a high-paying trade to learn so that he has the means to actually do it.  And the last thing he thinks as he sneaks away from the orphanage at Julio's elbow, everything he owns in a thin, dirty pillowcase, is…  
  
_You're right, Sister;  you've always been right:  Elysium's no place for martyrs and it isn't for you.  It'll never be for you._  
  
_But it damn sure will be for me._  
  
  
  
-oOo- FIN -oOo-


End file.
